Disaster Preparedness News

US Organizes National Earthquake Preparedness Drill

Last week Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano urged K-12 schools and colleges and universities across the central U.S. - and throughout the country - to help their students, faculty, and communities prepare for a potential devastating earthquake along the New Madrid Seismic Zone. This comes in response to preparedness experts scrutiny of how the U.S. would fair in a catastrophic disaster such as the ones recently experienced in Japan.

The plan is to have all schools, and ideally all organizations, participate in a public earthquake drill on Thursday, April 28, 2011. Eleven states in the New Madrid Seismic Zone been officially called out to participate in the drill called the "Great Central U.S. ShakeOut," which takes place at 10:15 am central time. Anyone can register to participate, whether at school, at work, or at home; to date, over two million Americans have signed up. Schools and colleges can sign up here which has instructions and resources to support educators, community groups and individuals interested in conducting the ShakeOut. Secretaries Duncan and Napolitano sent a formal letter to all K-12 schools, colleges and universities urging participation.

"As adults, it's our responsibility to make sure students are prepared, both at home and in school, for a possible emergency," said Secretary Duncan. "The ShakeOut drill is an important exercise for parents, students, teachers and schools leaders across the country and I hope it encourages more schools to develop, implement, and evaluate emergency plans."

Of course just participating in an earthquake drill isn’t enough…you also have to have a reliable earthquake preparedness kits stored at the home, school, office, and car. Don’t waste the time and money constantly buying/replacing store bought items. Get an earthquake kit that is designed by experts to be ready when you need it. Give yourself peace of mind by preparing you and your family with an earthquake preparedness kit today.